Manager Bob Melvin has modest goals for Yoenis Cespedes, who’ll play his first Cactus League game today.

“I’d like to see three home runs, three stolen bases and have him rob someone of a home run in center field,” Melvin said. “Other than that, not a whole lot.”

Cespedes will play center field today. Tomorrow, he’ll DH. He’s hitting second today, but that’s just so the staff can see him early in the lineup, perhaps have Cespedes get a third at-bat.

“He’s a middle-of-the-order power guy,” Melvin said. “That’s what we hear.”

Melvin isn’t saying what he’ll do with both Cespedes in Coco Crisp, also a center fielder, in the same lineup.

Through interpreter Ariel Prieto, Cespedes has daily chats with his manager. “Today was the first day I have not had him in there and ask him what he had for dinner last night.”

So far, Cespedes has simply taken batting practice and played in three simulatd games. Otherwise, the A’s haven’t seen much of the Cuban star beyond limited international play

“We know less about him than we do anybody else in camp,” Melvin said.

They’ll know soon enough.

“With limited resources, this is similar to what the Cincinnati did last year with (Aroldis) Chapman,” Melvin said. “We have a chance to potentially have a very high-end player. We don’t have that many opportunites to do that. There are some more unknowns, that’s why we had an opportunity. Based on what our people saw, we feel he has a chance to be a heck of a player. Certatinly to this point, he has done nothing to disprove that, so we’re excited about it.”